Pocono Mountain ex-board member questions Strunk's return

A former board member questioned why George Strunk was allowed back to the Pocono Mountain School Board despite charges that stemmed from a domestic incident in the spring.

MICHAEL SADOWSKI

A former board member questioned why George Strunk was allowed back to the Pocono Mountain School Board despite charges that stemmed from a domestic incident in the spring.

Michael Stern, who served on the board in two different stints between 2007 and 2011, questioned the board at a meeting Dec. 19 about Strunk's return to the board even though he remains charged with a felony count of aggravated assault.

Stern said a teacher or district employee facing similar charges likely would be suspended until the legal matter concluded.

"I'm not asking him to be removed," Stern said. "I'm asking why he was asked back."

Strunk returned to the board Nov. 21. The meeting, held the night before Thanksgiving, was sparsely attended. No one questioned the board at the Dec. 5 meeting.

Stern's questions were the first ones at a public meeting since Strunk returned. After the Nov. 21 meeting, Strunk would say only that the board asked him to return.

He has refused comment on the pending charges and his legal situation.

When pressed by Stern to address it at last week's meeting, even perhaps following the meeting in private, Strunk said he wouldn't be talking about his situation or status with the board.

"I'm not going to discuss it in this forum and I'm not going to discuss it afterward," he told Stern.

After the meeting, Stern said he was speaking as a concerned citizen, and not necessarily as a former board member.

Legally speaking, Solicitor Jeffrey Tucker said coming back to the board at any time was an option for Strunk, who took a leave of absence from the board in June and missed six months of public meetings.

He said Strunk could not be removed from the board for merely being charged with a crime.

"We still do have a presumption of innocence," he said, adding his return is "not a school board question."

Strunk faces 10 different charges from a May 23 arrest in which police said he was involved in a domestic fight with his wife and brother-in-law.

One of the charges — aggravated assault — is a first-degree felony, while the rest are misdemeanors.

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